Posted on 01/21/2018 4:12:25 AM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — For years, wrestling was always seen as a men’s sport.
But that’s no longer the case. Girls across Cochise County are breaking that stereotype one half nelson at a time — and doing it well.
Lyla Pacheco is a freshman at Buena High School and a junior varsity team member on the school’s wrestling squad. She is one of three girls on a team made up of more than 50 players.
Though she’s a freshman, Pacheco is no newcomer to the sport. She started her wrestling career in junior high school because she said she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps.
“He did wrestling when he was a kid and when I tried it I really liked it,” she said.
When she finished junior high school, joining Buena’s team was the logical next step. While she knows she’s making a mark in the community for being one of the few girls on the team, Pacheco said she didn’t join the team for that reason — wrestling is more than an after-school pastime; it’s a passion.
“The thrill of three minutes of wrestling — it really pushes me to discipline myself,” Pacheco said. “You have to exercise out of practice and we practice almost everyday. It’s a hardcore sport and it’s really brought me to discipline (myself).”
Giuliana Duncanson, a sophomore on the wrestling team, joined the junior varsity team with her friend, Bryttany Gurule. Before the season kicked off this fall, Duncanson said she had never stepped foot on a wrestling matt. She thought the sport looked like fun and, before she knew it, Duncanson was hooked.
But, she got injured early on. At Duncanson’s first match of season, she dislocated her elbow wrestling one of boys. Since then, she’s had to sit on the sidelines and watch her teammates take the mat. She doesn’t want to let that stop her, though. Once she’s cleared to play, Duncanson wants to return next season and make a name for herself wrestling at Buena.
“I really like the sport and I want to come back next year,” Duncanson said.
Like Pacheco, Duncanson didn’t join the team to prove anything to anyone. Instead, she wanted to participate in fun and engaging sport, adding to her list of hobbies that include volleyball and basketball.
“I like it, it’s a lot of fun,” Duncanson said. “I wanted to try something new.”
They aren’t the only girls to take to the mat with the boys. In fact, they are part of a movement of girls joining male-dominated sports. Girls across the country are joining teams and changing much of what modern society thinks about high school wrestling.
But girls in wrestling is nothing new.
In reality, women have been wrestling for well over 500 years, according to a PBS report. Girls wrestled each other in ancient Sparta and in some parts of Africa. One tribe in West Africa used wrestling as a marriage engagement — the champion boy fighter would marry the champion girl.
And there are girls’ leagues and teams popping up in high school divisions across the U.S. However, until local schools garner enough interest to fill an entire roster, the girls will play on the boys’ team.
But the girls aren’t treated any differently at Buena, said wrestling coach Mark Dannels. He’s been leading the team for the last eight years and said the training among all teams members is the same — there are no modifications for either girls or boys.
“We try to excel them just like we do the boys,” Dannels said. “They are athletes and my job is to help them succeed as student athletes.”
Dannels said he would like to see more girls try out for wrestling to fill a full girls team. For now, when the get the chance, Duncanson and Pacheco spar with other girls at tournaments.
For Rick Ross, Douglas High School wrestling coach, having an integrated team just proves how far girls have come in sports.
Right now, Ross has seven girls on his wrestling team, but he’s had 11 in years past. Some of his athletes have gone on to win scholarships and wrestle on college teams across the country.
But it wasn’t always that way. When he first started coaching in 2005, he didn’t have any girls on his team. Once the first few started trying out in 2009, they inspired other girls to get involved.
“It’s helped a lot of young women and it shows them the opportunity,” Ross said. “They see what’s happening — really these girls are all go-getters.”
As a coach, Ross is excited to see how girls change the game of wrestling. Having them in the game will change the future of the sport, he said.
I’m still waiting for them to allow boys on the girls volleyball or swim teams, since we are equal and all that...
At the time we told them that, they were in elementary/jr high and we didn’t attend every tournament. It’s a no win situation for a boy, so we wanted them to know ahead of time that it’s ok to choose not to wrestle a girl. That’s what I meant by permission-we’d back them up if the coach got after them. Forgive me for writing in the present tense. Our youngest son hasn’t started wrestling yet (we wait until about 4th grade) so I was thinking of him in a couple of years.
Different situation as they got older-our son wrestles at 182/195 not many girls at that weight:).
My son wrestled for 11 years from first grade thru his senior year in high school. He wrestled the upper weights and only had to wrestle two girls in his career. One was tough but the other was a push over. It’s rare in Michigan to see a girl at the high school state finals actually place, but they are always the fan favorites.
Same here-a girl makes it to the state tournament and it’s front page news on the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Seems that often girls who wrestle have dads who were wrestlers and no brothers.
How much real estate on the female wrestler would be off limits, either by rule or by chivalry? Quite an advantage. And how soon will some poor young male wrestler’s life be ruined by his female opponent making a groping claim?
Best defense against that, Eat Lots of Garlic and don;t brush your teeth. hehehehe
OH, ... I forgot, ... and a bad case of personal Felicitous (FARTS).
lol
She was injured in her first meet? Shocked!
I would not have told them to think about a forfeit but to wrestle on like they were against another guy. If the girls want to get in the ring, let it be a genuine experience for them.
Was She GASSED?
It goes well until a Muslim refuses to wrestle one and then the patriarchy becomes acceptable again
Titties aren’t the only things that will be grabbed.
It is really a no win for the guys:
You win, “Oh, big deal, you beat a girl.”
You lose, “Oh, you got beat by a girl? Ha Ha Ha, loser.”
“But, she got injured early on.”
Count on more of this.
If they’re really competing within the same weight class, the guys will have more muscle mass.
Broken collar bones will be the norm for the girls.
That being said, I view wrestling as a good form of self defense, and I would encourage girls to take up such a sport.
Getting away from the topic of wrestling though, I talked with a woman who was very proficient in karate. She was working with a guy who had a tendency to put his hands on her and she warned him more than once to stop it. So, one time he grabbed her and she broke his arm. The supervisor laughed at the guy and told him he should have known better.
Not only do they have more muscle mass, we know that boys have more upper body strength. I would expect that if they let them compete with boys that they would absolutely have a higher rate of injury.
Exactly.
Whenever this comes up, the stories come out. “Oh, there is this girl who is an expert in [fill in the blank here] who could kick the boys asses in [again, fill in the blank].
This is really stupid. Girls are physically weaker, less aggressive and less structured for combat and the sports and games that simulate combat in one way or another.
The physical rivalry that some want to see between the sexes will end one way - humiliation for the girls and backlash against their male competitors.
Why add to this mess. Girls should be girls.
I don’t remember, but that WOULD have been truly funny.
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